<p>I had to Google Belhaven to find out who they were. Sorry. Most of the Christian schools in the South are Baptist, or are run by Baptist. Very few Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, or any other group (except Catholic - they have their own schools - but not as many) have Christian schools. We have been called the Bible Belt - but the Baptist Belt would sometimes be more fitting. With that, we have a tendency to send our kids to Baptist colleges that tend to be more conservative in nature (unlike Baylor or some like that).</p>
<p>Funny i think Baylor as a conservative school. I recongize most collleges as i live in the south. MS Gulf Coast to be exact, however, the coast is more catholic than baptist.</p>
<p>That area would be - especially as you get closer to New Orleans. Most of the people in my circles would probably be unaware that Baylor is Baptist - much less conservative. Ha. I have taught in a Southern Baptist school for 7 years and have never had a student even consider Baylor. Go figure.</p>
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<p>PCCgrad, how do students going to PCC do as far as getting into post-grad programs, such as medical school or MBA programs?</p>
<p>I asked the same question before sending my son down to PCC for pre-Pharmacy. I contacted PCC and asked for a list of schools that have accepted PCC grads into their Pharmacy graduate school (for PharmD degrees). They sent me a list that was several pages long, with a number of well-known universities listed. The key to any medical field is doing well on the national test that is taken before entering or applying to medical school (usually taken after the Junior year). If one does well enough on that test, and has a high GPA, then there is not a lot of problem. As far as MBA programs, there are even fewer problems, and I know several who have graduated from PCC and went into graduate school in several states.
My suggest would be to do this: Contact PCC, tell them what field you are interested in, and ask them to send you a list of graduate schools that have accepted their graduates. PCC is aware of all the rumors/accusations/misinformation that is out there. They are very willing to help ease you mind if you ask. There are always some who graduate from PCC and can not get accepted into graduate school. Occasionally, they want to blame PCC. Then it turns out they have a 1.8 GPA. What did they expect ?
I graduated from PCC with a BA in History and entered the University of West Florida to begin work on my MA in Political Science three weeks later.</p>
<p>Back to the original question - yes, I have a concern about degrees from evangelical Christian colleges. Why? Adult professional life is all about informed decision making based upon critical thought. The process for critical thinking is to amass all the evidence at oneâs disposal and make an informed decision. But conservative Christian colleges hold that the most precious truth is that which is based upon faith, and that faith is unassailable. Accordingly, members of that culture are often led to pick and choose among available evidence, embracing that evidence which supports their predetermined conclusions and throwing out the rest. Higher education and this kind of approach to faith cannot coexist - theyâre entirely mutually exclusive.</p>
<p>So how does that affect people who have been taught that faith is equivalent to critical thought? Such people may be inclined to select an opinion and refuse to abandon it even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Or, they may not even think to test their assumptions, relying instead upon the value that they were taught to place upon their gut instincts. </p>
<p>For example, Iâve recently seen many reader comments on articles about the Boston Marathon bombings who suggest that this is what you get when you support immigration. If one has an inherent fear of immigration, this episode makes a convenient point for a predetermined conclusion. But the way that well-educated people are trained to approach decision-making is to do so from a strictly objective viewpoint. One should research crime rates among immigrants and non-immigrants and try to assess openmindedly whether immigrant status is any valid predictor of violent crime. I think that itâs difficult to teach a student this type of dispassionate analysis while at the same time maintaining that any objective analysis that casts doubt upon core religious tenets is out of bounds.</p>
<p>BTW, Iâm not an atheist - Iâm a former VP of a conservative Christian college who left for a public institution after coming to the conclusion that what I did for a living was harming students, not preparing them for productive futures.</p>
<p>To gadad: Thanks for your input. You have made your decision. Go live with it. I, and others, do not share you opinion. You assume that your âenlightenedâ ideas must, or should, apply to all, and those who attend conservative Christian colleges are less intelligent than yourself. Your post seems to suggest that one must abandon faith for higher education. That is simply silly. There have been many highly educated Christians in the history of our nation that would laugh at you absurd suggestion. Remember many of our earliest universities were started by Christian denominations and led by highly qualified individuals.<br>
I do not support our current immigration policy for a number of reasons. The crime rate of immigrant vs non-immigrants is just one factor. Surely one as intelligent as yourself would not pick a single factor and determine that to be the sole criteria upon which to base immigration policy !
As far as having been a VP of a conservative Christian college who woke up one day and determined that he was harming studentsâŠwell, I will take that with a grain of salt. Kinda like the perfect student who got kicked out of school for doing absolutely nothing wrong.</p>
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<p>Thanks gadad for that information. It does strike me odd that many of the Conservative evangelical schools have regular but not outstanding test scores (with exeption to Grove city/ Patrick Henry) compared to other christian colleges.</p>
<p>Our family has personal experience with the following Christian colleges: Gordon College in MA, Messiah College in PA, and Calvin College in MI. This type of Christian college definitely teaches critical thinking and the faculty are unafraid to look at the truth. I think my students coming out of these colleges are good solid thinkers, within their framework of faith. This is a very valuable type of liberal arts education, and one that we are willing to sacrifice for.</p>
<p>I do not think that all Christian colleges are like this. Some Christian colleges exist to educate without challenging the faith of the young people. The faculty do not have academic freedom. It is a tricky balance to get right, but there are some colleges working hard at maintaining their Christian faith while allowing for academic freedom.</p>
<p>My circle of employers (engineers & public education mainly with a handful of âotherâ) doesnât have any who agree with gadad. Obviously, he exists and will be biased, but I think heâs as rare as those who eagerly seek out Christian colleges for their employees (excepting Christian fields, of course). </p>
<p>kypdurron - middle son opted to go secular as there simply werenât any Christian schools going into as much research depth as he wanted. He has no regrets. I tend to think many of those with high scores prefer a deeper level of coursework than what the vast majority of Christian colleges offer. Christian colleges are essentially equal to âaverageâ colleges. Also⊠add Wheaton (IL) to your list of higher score Christian schools.</p>
<p>Pccgrad - oldest had a similar ACT score and didnât get anywhere near that kind of offer from Union. He did get âbasicâ merit aid from them (Iâm thinking 9K or maybe 12K - itâs been a few years). Covenant offered more (and was his first choice even though we arenât PCA), but was still not free or close to it. The other schools you mention Iâm adding to my mental list of recommendations for students who are really looking for $$ from school. Since we live in a lower economic area, many students are in that classification. Some can be convinced to travel farther from home. Thanks for the list!</p>
<p>âI think heâs as rare as those who eagerly seek out Christian colleges for their employees (excepting Christian fields, of course).â</p>
<p>I really doubt this. I donât know very many people even here in SC who arenât strongly devout that donât think like galad on this issue.</p>
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<p>Yeah, but those universities changed for just the reasons gadad cited. This account doesnât really effectively rebut Gadadâs argument because 1) it does not address whether Christianity is compatible with the values of a liberal arts education and 2) itâs based on a fallacious authority argument, supporting your opinion because it is âyour opinion, and others do not share that opinionâ </p>
<p>You also caricatured gadadâs argument by suggesting it asserts one canât have faith and have a good liberal arts education. The real issue is Christian universities, not Christian students.</p>
<p>I agree with gadad. I attended an evangelical middle/high school and was strongly encouraged to attend a Christian college. However, although I had had a number of good teachers in my school, the disregard for critical thought and denial of scientific facts bothered me. We were warned over and over again about how we would go to h**l for attending a secular college, but I thoughtâwell, what about the world after that? Itâs a big place where there are many different viewpoints on religion (or absence thereof) and I wanted to be able to look at things without a narrow filter. And I knew of no employment situation, apart from a church, in which everyone might share the same views.</p>
<p>PCCgrad, I would also like to point out that it is attitudes like yours that make people wary of hiring people from certain institutions. So many of your posts are disdainful, mocking, and confrontational. (Contrast the way you express yourself with the way Creekland does.) Evangelical Christianity has taken a really political, aggressive turn and most employers do not want to risk having to deal with that among their employees. </p>
<p>And one final thing: pointing out that a large number of colleges and universities in the U.S. were founded with some church affiliation is neither here nor there. There is a big difference both between the denominations that were active in higher education 100 or 200 (or more) years ago and todayâs evangelical denominations AND the amount of âdoctrineâ that is espoused in each collegeâs curriculum.</p>
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<p>Going outside of my personal circle, I can draw from graduates from my high school. Those who have gone to Christian colleges (including Liberty, Grove City and Cedarville - three considered quite conservative here) have not had any more issues getting jobs or internships in their field than others who chose secular colleges at the same academic level. A few have gone on to high level professional fields. Most stay at ânormalâ levels - again - similar to their secular counterparts.</p>
<p>I do see the bias on here (cc) and am rather boggled by it as I donât see it happening IRL.</p>
<p>IRL the lack of accreditation can hurt, and at our school, students are informed of this when making their choices. Last I knew Patrick Henry was not accredited, but that may have changed. Itâs been a couple of years since we had a student interested in them. They have great scores (for a Christian school), but again, if they have not been accredited - check to see how grads are faring before making a decision.</p>
<p>Sally: If you were told that you would âgo to h**lâ for attending a secular college, then I suggest there were serious problem with your high school. I am not surprised that you can read a post where one claims that those in Christian establishments are incapable of higher levels of reasoning and not see that statement as confrontational. I am pleased that you are an authority on the amount of âdoctrineâ that was taught in the universities of yesteryear.</p>
<p>I thought being âChristianâ meant being âChrist-like.â Silly me.</p>
<p>In other words, you thought Christians are âsheeplesâ who are supposed to accept unfounded accusations and criticism without response. My degree, my faith, and my philosophy are criticized, and I should sit quietly by and say nothing. Not likely.</p>
<p>Thatâs what Jesus would have done. At least the way I leaned it (and not in school).</p>
<p>BYU grads tend to be highly prizedâeven on Wall Streetâwith little concern about some of the nuances of that faith. Some may careâmost wonât. for each that does care another will consider it a big plus.</p>
<p>Yes,some employers will look down upon Christian colleges. Grad schols, I donât think so, though you can get small minded decision makers anywhere.</p>
<p>@Barrons i have heard that BYU grads are in demand for FBI and CIA jobs as well. And many consider that religion to be extremely âconservativeâ. </p>
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<p>As i said in Page 1. the answer to the OPâs question is It really depends on schoolâs prestige, bias of employer and accredidation. The flame wars on here are not needed</p>